“What do you mean to let it go? It’s so easy for you to say that!” Mom yelled. She was, even more, infuriated the more I tried to talk sense into her. “That one million was so close at hand and poof! It was gone! And it’s all your d*mn fault! Do you think I’m going to let this go?”
She sounded like if I had been an obedient daughter and listened to her, she would have gotten the money. It was all my fault that I blew the money away.
At that moment, Mom could not be reasoned with. No matter what I said, it would be in vain as she definitely was not in a receptive mood.
“Mom, breaking up with Michael is my business. I don’t have an obligation to get you that money. In the same way, you have no right over my decisions. I am an adult now, I have the right to walk the path of my choice.”
I would have swallowed my pride and complied to appease Mom in the past. However, my mood had gone from bad to worse. I would not stand to be insulted any longer.
“Oh, you’re an adult now, aren’t you? Do you know anything about showing gratitude to your parents? You’re an ungrateful brat! Raising you is the biggest regret of my life!”
With an accusatory finger pointed at my face, Mom’s voice rang with blame in every syllable.
I scowled with indignant rage.
After so many years of pouring my heart out for the family, how could she say that I am ungrateful?
I am always here to help out whenever our family runs into trouble, without a word of complaint. And now, Mom thinks that I’m an ungrateful brat.
I should be the one with bigger regrets instead of her. I didn’t understand why I was born and raised in such a dysfunctional family. I had no wish to be born into a rich family, but one with loving parents was more than enough.
“Mom, if this is what you think of me, I don’t think I can do anything to change your mind. However, I feel that I have fulfilled the responsibilities of a daughter to you. If you continue to make unreasonable demands like this, I will not condone it!” I said calmly despite my internal turmoil.
My patience for her was slipping away.
It would be more accurate to say that my tolerance for their ill-treatment of me had gone past its limit. I wasn’t sure if I became heartless or it had been their endless demands that had pushed me to the edge.
“Get out of my house. Get the hell out of here. You’re not my daughter!” Mom pointed at the door, her face contorted in fury.
The worse her attitude became, the more my temper grew. With the amount that weighed on my mind in the past few days, my patience had worn thin.
I spun around and left without looking back. Sometimes I wondered if I were more vicious, I might have even disowned them and cut them out of my life completely. That would spare me a lot of heartache and sorrow, but I knew myself best. My biggest weakness was my family.
Nothing else would explain why I foolishly gave in to their demands for years on end.
I was still simmering in a rage as I trotted along the road. However, I called Natalie to ask if I could come over before hailing a cab.
I have been in a foul mood recently, and it had been a long while since I last saw Natalie. I haven’t even kept track of how she had been doing with Yuval.
I found Natalie at home alone watching television when I arrived.
With a casual glance toward the TV, I sat down next to her and watched it together without a word exchanged between the two of us.
It was an animated series. Though it seemed childish, the simplicity of the story was very comforting. If everybody could live life with the innocence and curiosity of a child, the world would be a much better place.
“Aren’t you busy, Anna? What brings you here today?” Natalie asked without tearing her eyes away from the screen. She munched on crisps before she addressed me.
“I’m in an awful mood. I’d like to be around a friend right now.”
Like Natalie, I kept my eyes fixed on the TV and spoke in a level voice.
“You’re stuck with Michael every day. How is it possible for you to be in an awful mood? You haven’t called me in days, so I thought that you have forgotten all about me.”
Natalie responded sarcastically to my remark, she could not believe that I would be unhappy being with Michael.
My heart skipped a beat at the mention of his name, “It’s over between me and Michael,” I said after a brief pause.
Natalie knew how genuine the feelings I had for Michael were. Hence, I could be myself and not hide anything in front of her.
“What happened? Weren’t you guys doing well together? Why did you break up with him?” Natalie was in shock at the news.
I told her about Michael’s mother locating me and Emma giving me trouble. Natalie was my best friend. There was nothing I needed to hide from her.
Natalie was outraged. “This is too much! That’s between you and Michael. What the hell is wrong with those two?”
“It’s his girlfriend and his mother, the two other women in his life. We both know that nothing will ever happen between me and Michael.”
Though it hurt to end things with Michael, I did not blame anybody for standing in our way. We were just not destined to be together.
I hung my head dejectedly. No matter what, I was still fond of Michael. To watch a crush of mine be with another woman, possibly getting married and raising children together, was soul-crushing.
“Anna, why can’t you focus on the bright side of things instead of fixating on the fact that it is impossible for you and Michael to be together? Nothing is impossible in this world!”
Natalie was not accustomed to me being down in the dumps. She glared at me in anger and spoke loudly to me as if I couldn’t hear her through the shroud of my own self-pity.
I flinched at the volume of her voice. She was so loud that she could have damaged my eardrums.
“I’ve told you this before, the difference in social status between me and Michael is too great. His future wife has to be compatible with him.”
All the elites of society care about in a marriage was to strengthen their status to form powerful alliances. Emotional connections were the last factor of consideration. Michael was a very good example.
With such a domineering personality, he was accustomed to having his orders carried out. However, when it came to his own marriage, his mother had actually set him up to marry Emma. Though he did not like her, he did not reject her either. It was his mother’s arrangement that he had so meekly accepted.
Even Michael accepted this reality as the way society worked for people like him. Other rich young men of his ilk would undoubtedly feel the same way.
“Anna, you underestimate yourself. I could tell that Michael is very fond of you. It’s very possible that he liked you a long time ago! Love is something that messes with one’s sense of judgment and rationality. If Michael had indeed fallen for you, he would pay no heed to his mother’s choice for a daughter-in-law.”
